Remodel

Sometimes, one gets the feeling that there is more to be had with a particular instrument.  I finished this one this past February.  It was an experiment, in that I left the plates fairly thick, trying to follow the graduation pattern of the Paganini violin, Guarneri del Gesu's "Cannone" of 1743.  For example, the center of the back was about 6 mm thick.  More typical is the 4 to 4.5 range, and some are thinner than that.

I played it for a few months, not completely happy with it, though I am one of those who never is quite happy with a fiddle, so I try not to be hasty, but give a fiddle some time to develop.

But, in playing it, I felt there was more sound quality to be had.  This past June, I pulled the top and took a little thickness off the top.  It wasn't as thick as I remembered, so the modification was minor.  Put it back together and continued playing it.  Certainly an improvement.

I played this fiddle for several tunes two Saturdays ago, at the Boise contra dance, in an ADAE tuning.  It rang pretty nicely on those tunes in D major.  But with all that "A", I noticed even more the tendancy for a bit of a wolf on the open A.  Easy enough to handle with a little practice, but why should one need to?

So today, I pulled the top and am taking some of that thickness out of the back.  A fair amount actually.  Not overly thin, but a significant proportional change for this fiddle. 

I am curious to see the effect it has.